The Sea of Knowledge

For most of human history, people lived in a world where information was as rare as gold, and just as valuable too. A world where the common man had no access to education, which was exclusively a domain for the rich and nobility. A world where this lack of education was a real insurmountable barrier that stood between the common person and the stores of human knowledge. A world where scientists were barely on the cusp of discovering insights that would prove accurate and relevant to our daily lives. And even when they did, this knowledge was locked away in the ivory towers of intellectuals, or the gilded halls of nobility.

That is not the world we live in today. We live in a unique period of human history that places vast troves of powerful knowledge, directly at our very fingertips. As we speak, there are millions of researchers around the world who are performing studies and conducting experiments, in order to produce knowledge that can improve our quality of life. And once they do, they simply publish their results in a concise paper and freely disseminate it to anyone & everyone with the interest in reading it… making their findings accessible to anyone with grade-12 reading skills.

Within weeks, newspaper reporters around the world go a step further and publicize these findings in easily digestible reports in the mainstream media. Eventually, these studies and other similar parcels of knowledge get packaged together by authors and publishers into mainstream books. Books through which any average Joe can attain a level of proficiency and understanding that our forefathers could only have dreamed of.

If knowledge is indeed power, we live in a world where we have more power at our fingertips, than anyone in human history. The vast sea of knowledge out there that we have access to, is simply astounding and humbling. The only limitation we face today, is our own motivation in pursuing it. The only barrier we face today is a mental one; a barrier that challenges us to reach for the knowledge that is at our fingertips, and apply it to our lives.

Unfortunately, even this barrier proves itself to be an insurmountable one for many of us. We complain that we have no time, even as we spend untold number of hours watching TV, surfing the web, and reading celebrity gossip. We spend thousands of hours pursuing our goals and hoping to achieve success. But we spend next to no time researching how to go about it in the best possible way. Worse, even in instances where we happen to stumble upon this knowledge, we often refuse to accept it simply because it contradicts our ingrained habits, traditions, and beliefs.

There is a vast sea of knowledge out there, through which any of us can achieve success in any aspect of our life that we care about. The only question is, are you willing to pick it up off the ground and do something with it?

I’ve compiled below a series of links, which I was able to put together in simply two hours. Links that hint at how we can make great strides in any aspect of our lives that we care about. I do not intend for this to be a comprehensive guide of any sort… simply a demonstration of what is possible if we’re willing to open our minds and start looking.